There are known shock absorber devices for arbors of timepiece element such as balances or arbors carrying a toothed wheel including a support in which a housing is arranged. This housing has a pierced base through which the arbor shank passes and an inner wall. The device further includes a pivot system 1, seen in FIG. 1, arranged in said housing and including a base 2 that comprises elastic return means 3 at its periphery. These return means take the form of arms 4 and are connected by a first end to base 2 and by a second end to an annular peripheral part 5, as seen in FIG. 1.
The base has an opening 6 in which is inserted a pivot element able to cooperate with an arbor. This pivot element and the base may form a single piece.
During assembly of the shock absorber device, the shock absorber device is pressed into the housing in the support.
One drawback of these known shock absorber devices it that they are cumbersome. Indeed, by their nature, devices with arms have a larger surface area than lyre-shaped spring systems. The volume is further increased by the presence of the annular part on which the second ends of the return means are fixed.
Consequently, this type of shock absorber device can only be used in timepiece movements of large dimensions and not in more compact timepiece movements.
Another drawback of these devices is the rigidity of the attachment between the elastic return means, namely the arms, and the annular peripheral part. Indeed, the principle of pressing the device into the housing in the support means that the rigid attachment of the arms to the annular peripheral part behaves as though the arms were rigidly secured to the support. This attachment therefore creates stress in the arms. The arms then have to be sized accordingly to prevent any risk of breakage.